Self taught, I have been designing and weaving tapestries since 1979, exhibiting and carrying out private and church commissions throughout the North of England during the eighties and early nineties. At the close of the eighties, losing interest and feeling I was becoming stale, I returned to my original profession as an Applied Psychologist.
Since then I have continued making, but rather more slowly – producing domestic scale tapestries for pleasure, challenge and the sense of peace it gives me. The work is now quite polarised – either rich textured colour or whites and natural shades – elaborate or minimalist. Much of the work is currently small and framed, in keeping with the dimensions of the modern home.
I continue to be fascinated by line and sculptural form in my work and since returning to making more fully, have increasingly explored the use of different materials.
Preparation is minimal to avoid boredom and losing the energy for the piece. The cartoon is generally designed from random sketches collected in my notebooks, and the colours chosen swiftly. Inspiration comes in the main from outside the discipline of textiles, in the fields of ceramics, photography, architecture and metal.